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Feinstein and Guns

A faithful reader and commentator (Barry) pointed out to me that U.S. Senator Diane Feinstein (D-Calif.) made some silly remarks about veterans and gun ownership last week. So I checked it out and today’s column is about Feinstein and guns. By the way, if you have tips or ideas about columns, you can leave a comment or e-mail me at western_word@yahoo.com.

To set this up, I am a veteran who spent almost 12 years in the military (honorably discharged). I carried an M-16 rifle for several of those years. I currently own four guns, I don’t actually think President Obama is lurking outside my home waiting to take them, the Patriot Act does not scare me, and drones do not bother me (I do love to joke about all these things).

Sometimes the intelligence of elected officials fascinates me. For example, an article in Military.com about Sen. Diane Feinstein reported, “She was especially concerned over veterans being able to acquire the weapons.”

It goes downhill quickly for Feinstein.

Feinstein was quoted in the article saying, “…with the advent of PTSD, which I think is a new phenomenon as a product of the Iraq war, it’s not clear how the seller will transfer the firearm covered by this bill to verify that an individual was a member [of the military] or a veteran and that there was no impairment of that individual with respect to having a weapon like this.”

The comments, “with the advent of PTSD, which I think is a new phenomenon as a product of the Iraq war” should disqualify her from being a United States Senator. Game set match. Go home.

According to U.S. National Library of Medicine which is part of the National Institute of Health, “Post-traumatic stress disorder [PTSD] is a type of anxiety disorder. It can occur after you’ve seen or experienced a traumatic event that involved the threat of injury or death.”

One can get PTSD without being in the military, senator. The history of PTSD goes way back. Feinstein’s house of cards come tumbling down rather quickly when she makes statements like that. It does nothing to bolster her crusade against guns.

Back here in Big Sky Country, the legislators in the Montana Senate (at least the Republicans) are showing us that even Sen. Feinstein has not cornered silliness. The Montana Senate Republicans made us proud once again with the passage of a bill on Tuesday that the Associated Press reports“would prohibit local authorities from enforcing any federal ban on certain semi-automatic weapons.”

The bill passed on a 29-21 party-line vote. Those GOP state senators sure are sticking it to the federal ‘gubberment’ – whoop, whoop!

Meanwhile a recently-released Washington Post poll (1001 were polled) found that 57% favor a nationwide ban on assault weapons. The poll also showed that 91% support background checks at gun shows.

I wonder if the remaining 9% who were against background checks at gun shows resided in Montana and Wyoming…

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